The thing about medical insurance is that it's good to have when you actually have health problems. So thinking that you end up paying for nothing, it's very small thing when you finally do have a health problem.

The earlier that you start medical insurance, the cheaper it will be in the long run. I see my parents now taking out insurance in the later part of their lives, they have to pay more than what they would have paid if they had started earlier. And the premium doesn't have to be in the high ranges. If you tell the insurance agent that your budget is low, they shoudl be able to give you a lower premium until you are able financially to pay more.

You may want to look for a policy that will cover both heart diseases and back problems. These may usually not be part of critical illnesses but it's popping up more regularly. Take it from someone who is experiencing both. It's expensive to treat.

The other thing is the cost of doing the medical tests. There's only a certain limit that the insurance will cover so gotta check if that covers it for you too.

Well, the golden years are below 30 years of age. After 30, that's when health problems start popping up and it's annoying when insurance or your company's health policy doesn't quite cover everything. Some ppl try SOCSO but even that is not a lot.

Hmm...and I think with the different types of insurance around, it's not easy to do the comparison. I remember spending 2 months just sitting down and trying to make head and tail on 10 different packages. 8 years ago, it was easy to decide what I wanted :

-best female coverage, especially during pregnancy and a newborn baby
-covered medical tests
-the various additional options
-the reputation of the company and whether I knew the agent

The insurance coverage we have here isn't as good as in the US or Europe but even then, even doing an operation is a big deal and that option may not necessarily be the best either.

I would say that it's hard to decide on the type of insurance to take without good friends to ask for advice.

I did get a prep talk from a friend recently that one of the Takaful funds is offering GPA insurance as part of the unit rates purchase and if one wanted to include the critical illnesses, they can pay for it but still at cheaper rates than what insurance companies are offering.